The present invention relates in general to a vehicle axle shaft and, in particular, to a high torque capacity full floating axle shaft for use in vehicles.
During use, vehicle drive axle shafts are subjected to sudden torsional loads applied through both the differential and through attached wheels. After a vehicle has been designed and built, there is a tendency to increase the demands made on the vehicle components through, for example, increases in vehicle speed, increases in vehicle weight and increases in vehicle load capacity. Furthermore, there is also a demand for reliable and long-lived components by vehicle owners and users. It is difficult and expensive to redesign a component to meet new demands and such a redesigned component often requires that other related components be changed. The present invention allows the torque capacity of the full floating axle shaft to be increased without changing the axle housing spindle inner diameter or the shaft diameter within the spindle.